New 27" iMac Not Compatible With VESA Mounts

macrumors bot

Apple has long supported VESA mounting brackets for its larger displays, including the 27" iMac, the 27" Thunderbolt and 24" and 30" Cinema Displays. With Apple's adapter bracket, the desk stand can be removed and the display can be attached to any VESA-compatible mount.

macrumors G4

macrumors 603

Blah this is why I find the thinness obsession to be weird. It doesn't take up less desk space as the depth footprint of stand plus machine is virtually identical. In this case it lost functionality for the moment. The purpose of thinning out a design should be to better accommodate spatially constrained installations. I wonder if this will be updated.

macrumors G5

Swing-arm iMacs are the coolest. I hope the foot is at least removable from the new ones. Then third parties can make whatever mount or adapter they want.

The thinness of the new iMacs has ZERO benefit, except for style.

Then again, for a piece of furniture in your home/office, style matters a lot! (And optical drives were going to become a niche option no matter what.)

Speaking of style... come on, Apple! Make the keyboard keys and the mouse black! White cables? OK. That’s a signature Apple thing. But white peripherals? On a black computer? How much cooler would these iMacs look with black keys and mouse?

macrumors 68030

Is it me or is Apple slowly turning from a respected maker of high-quality, versatile products into a company that makes "cheap disposable crap", only without the cheap part?

That's certainly what it looks like! Some examples:

- Screens held on with GLUE??
- No VESA mount for the iMacs
- Non-user replaceable hard drives on both models, and memory too on the smaller one
- Completely non-user-serviceable batteries in most mobile products (you can still swap the battery relatively easily in the iPhone and non-retina Macbook Pros but how long until the latter are discontinued?)

There's more... but it's disappointing. I wouldn't mind if there was a price reduction to coincide with increased product "cheapness" but it's all expensive as ever.

macrumors 6502a

Is it me or is Apple slowly turning from a respected maker of high-quality, versatile products into a company that makes "cheap disposable crap", only without the cheap part?

That's certainly what it looks like! Some examples:

- Screens held on with GLUE??
- No VESA mount for the iMacs
- Non-user replaceable hard drives on both models, and memory too on the smaller one
- Completely non-user-serviceable batteries in most mobile products (you can still swap the battery relatively easily in the iPhone and non-retina Macbook Pros but how long until the latter are discontinued?)

There's more... but it's disappointing. I wouldn't mind if there was a price reduction to coincide with increased product "cheapness" but it's all expensive as ever.

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I wouldn't call it cheapness. It is still made from aluminium and glass vs a plastic competitor. I wouldn't call pushing design further cheapness either even if you do not like the design.

Apple designs there products not to be opened by the user otherwise they would be making fat boxes like PCs to gain access to every component. They like to keep things simple and easy to choose. Imagine if there was a build your own mac where you could buy all the parts you needed from an Apple store and assemble it yourself. Apple would have a whole new nightmare to deal with. Steve Jobs said "don't spread yourself too thin".

While Apple may prevent access to user replaceable parts, it focuses on other things that competitors don't. Maybe you can call competitors cheapness for their lack of design innovation too but we already all do that anyway.

macrumors 68000

"Yeah, it's true, new iMac is not compatible with VESA mounts. This is because once you buy enough iPads, you will find they are so magical, the magic will rub off on the user - they will find they can soon make iMac levitate by the sheer power of thought. We're doubling down on magicalness. Or should that be doubling up? Either way, we're doubling it."

macrumors newbie

I'd take this as less of a "it's never going to be compatible" and more of a "we haven't developed a bracket that's the right shape for the new bubble back yet." I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new part number VESA bracket in the future. They already sell two different brackets for the old flat displays and the later curved back models.

macrumors 6502

I'd take this as less of a "it's never going to be compatible" and more of a "we haven't developed a bracket that's the right shape for the new bubble back yet." I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new part number VESA bracket in the future. They already sell two different brackets for the old flat displays and the later curved back models.

Click to expand...

I think it's more than just a new bracket. Looking at the pictures of an open 27 would seem to suggest that the placement of the screws holding the stand would only be accessible from the inside.

Administrator

Staff Member

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macrumors 68040

Thank you for your inquiry. The new iMac is not VESA mount compatible at this time.

We appreciate your feedback on this feature and will take it into consideration.

Thanks,
Laura

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Seems like some people are completely missing this. You should change this to "Current VESA mounts". They'll easily come out with a new way to make them compatible. Give them time. Not everything happens instantly.

macrumors 68030

Seems like some people are completely missing this. You should change this to "Current VESA mounts". They'll easily come out with a new way to make them compatible. Give them time. Not everything happens instantly.

Click to expand...

Most of the time. "At this time" means "I'm sorry but you're screwed. Deal with it"
Don't take PR on every words. It's part of the job.

macrumors 6502

Seems like some people are completely missing this. You should change this to "Current VESA mounts". They'll easily come out with a new way to make them compatible. Give them time. Not everything happens instantly.

Click to expand...

Didn't they need to do the same thing when they moved from either the white-backed PowerPC/1st gen Intel to the Black-backed ones? Or maybe it was the move from plastic-backed to the unibody?

macrumors 68040

Blah this is why I find the thinness obsession to be weird. It doesn't take up less desk space as the depth footprint of stand plus machine is virtually identical. In this case it lost functionality for the moment. The purpose of thinning out a design should be to better accommodate spatially constrained installations. I wonder if this will be updated.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure everyone feels this way. The thinness factor only really works up to a point, and even then...

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